Ramon Novarro

Ramon Novarro was a Mexican actor who broke into American silent films in 1917 in bit parts, supporting himself with work as a singing waiter and a dancer before Rex Ingram and Alice Terry began promoting him and Ingram suggested his screen name. More prominent roles came from 1923, with Scaramouche giving him his first big success, and his greatest triumph arrived in 1925. After Rudolph Valentino's death in 1926 he was the screen's leading Latin actor, known for swashbuckling action parts and romantic leads. The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) paired him with Norma Shearer, Mata Hari (1931) with Greta Garbo, and Devil-May-Care (1929) was his first talking picture. When his MGM contract lapsed in 1935 he worked only occasionally, among them a small part in We Were Strangers (1949), and he continued to act on television into 1968. He became the first Latin American performer to build a successful Hollywood career.